LEARN    ONE   THING    | 
EVERY   DAY 

FEBRUARY  16  1920          /jyW               SERIAL  NO.  197  1 

!\     1 

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'the  ' 

A 

[mentor] 

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■    PIONEERS  OF  THE    ■ 
1         GREAT  WEST         1 

By 
!■■■            GEORGE  S.  BRYAN              |^h| 

*J 

DEPARTMENT  OF 
HISTORY 


VOLUME  8 
NUMBER  1 


TWENTY  CENTS  A  COPY 


PIONEERS !  0  PIONEERS ! 


Have  the  elder  races  halted? 
Do  they  droop  and  end  their  lesson,  wearied  over  there  beyond  the  seas? 
We  take  up  the  task  eternal,  and  the  burden  and  the  lesson. 

Pioneers!    0  pioneers! 

All  the  past  we  leave  behind. 
We  debouch  upon  a  newer  mightier  world,  varied  world. 
Fresh  and  strong  the  world  we  seize,  world  of  labor  and  the  march, 

PioneersI    0  pioneers! 

We  detachments  steady  throwing, 
Down  the  edges,  through  the  passes,  up  the  mountains  steep, 
Conquering,  holding,  daring,  venturing  as  we  go  the  unknown  ways. 

Pioneers!    0  pioneers! 

We  primeval  forests  felling. 
We  the  rivers  stemming,  vexing  we  and  piercing  deep  the  mines  within. 
We  the  surface  broad  surveying,  we  the  virgin  soil  upheaving, 

Pioneers!    0  pioneers! 

O  to  die  advancing  on! 
Are  there  some  of  us  to  droop  and  die?    Has  the  hour  come? 
Then  upon  the  march  we  fittest  die,  soon  and  sure  the  gap  is  fill'd. 

Pioneers!    0  pioneers! 

All  the  pulses  of  the  world. 
Falling  in  they  beat  for  us,  with  the  Western  movement  beat, 
Holding  single  or  together,  steady  moving  to  the  front,  all  for  us, 

Pioneers!    0  pioneers! 

—Walt  Whitman. 


THE    MENTOR    ASSOCIATION 

ESTABLISHED  FOR  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OP  A  POPULAR  INTEREST  IN 
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J.  S.   CAMPBELL;    ASSISTANT   TREASURER   AND   ASSISTANT.  SECRETARY    H.   A.   CROWE. 

FEBRUARY  16.  1920  VOLUME  8  NUMBER  1 

Entered  as  second-clan  matter,  March  10,  1913.  at  the  postoffice  at  New  York.  N.  Y..  under  the  act  of  March  3. 
1879.    Copyright.  1920.  by  The  Mentor  Association.  Inc. 


THE  MENTOR    •    DEPARTMENT  OF  HISTORY 


SERIAL  NUMBER    197 


St»c* 


By  courtesy  of  the  sculptor.  Elaie  Ward 

GEORGE    ROGERS    CLARK 

From  a  photograph  of  the  model 
for  the  statue  which  was  erected 
at    the    Louisiana    Purchase    Ex- 
position,  St.    Louis,    1904 


PIONEERS    EMIGRATING    FROM    CONNECTICUT    TO    EASTERN    OHIO,    1805 
Distance,  600  miles;  time,  90  days 

PIONEERS  OF 
THE  WEST 

By  GEORGE  S.  BRYAN 

Author  ofuSam  Houston,"  etc. 

MENTOR  GRAVURES 

DANIEL  BOONE  GEORGE  ROGERS  CI  \RK 

DAVID  CROCK]  I T  STEPHEN  FULLER  AUSTIN 

JOHN  CHARLES  FREMONT  CHRISTOPHER  CARSON 


NTIL  well  into  the  eighteenth  century,  English  settlement  in 
America  had  been  mainly  confined  to  a  narrow  fringe  along 
the  Atlantic  seaboard.     That  so  it   might   remain  seemed  not 
impossible.     Under  gifted  leaders  the  French  had  with  zeal- 
V'U\    "us  enterprise   penetrated   to   the    heart    of   I  tinent;   and 

the  French  Mown  claimed  dominion  southward  to  the  Gulf 
and  vaguely  westward  to  the  Rockies.  To  the  English  colonists  the 
Appalachian  mountain-system  which  sometimes  thej  .called  the  "Great 
Mountains"-  appeared  a  barrier  formidable  and  impressive  to  an  extent 
that  now  we  can  hardly  realize.  Even  after  the  best  routes  had  been 
marked  out  and  the  menace  of  Indian  enemies  removed,  the  crossing  of  it 
was  long  to  the  popular  mind  a  thing  of  uncommon  toil  and  difficulty. 
Yel   the  English  settlers,  if  they  moved  deliberately  a  i  tal 

0,  181  I,  It  lhcpo.toll 
i  .n. >n.  Inc. 


PIONEERS     OF     THE     WEST 


EMIGRATION    TO    THE    WESTERN    COUNTRY 


region,  also  occupied  it  as  inten- 
sively as  conditions  permitted.  It 
is  said  that  by  1700  it  was  possi- 
ble, in  journeying  from  southern 
Virginia  to  Portland,  Maine,  to 
pass  each  night  in  a  sizable  village. 
\\  estward  movement  into  unoccu- 
pied lands  gradually  became  for 
Americans  no  less  inevitable  than 
their  struggle  toward  political  inde- 
pendence. With  that  movement 
began  what  has  well  been  termed 
the  second  American  colonial  per- 
iod; and  a  new  race  arose — the 
American  pioneers. 

To  the  able  if  arrogant  Lieu- 
tenant-Governor Spotswood  of 
Virginia  belongs  the  honor  of  hav- 
ing been,  so  far  as  definite  records 
arc  concerned,  the  first  explorer  of 
the  Appalachians.  About  his  ex- 
pedition of  1716  clings  a  suggestion 
of  the  romance  that  surrounds  the 
Spanish  conquistador es,  "with  lanc< 
and  helm  and  prancing  steed, 
glittering  through  the  wilderness." 
With  a  party  of  fifty  he  climbed  the  Blue  Ridge  by  way  of  the 
upper  Rappahannock;  crossed  the  Shenandoah,  which  he  christened 
Euphrates;  and  took,  solemn  possession  for  His  Majesty  George  the 
First.  Having  taken  eight  weeks  to  cover  440  miles,  he  returned  to 
Williamsburg  preceded  by  trumpeters,  and  presented  to  his  comrades 
jewel-studded  horseshoes  inscribed:  Sic  juvat  transcendere  monies  (Thus 
'tis  our  pleasure  to  go  o'er  the  mountains) — the  allusion  being  to  the  fact 
that  for  mountain-work  the  horses  had  been  shod  with  iron  shoes,  not 
then  used  in  lowland  Virginia.  This  picturesque  enterprise  led  to  nothing. 
The  first  white  men  to  cross  the  Great  Mountains  and  enter  the  cen- 
tral plain  were  probably  wandering  hunters  who,  in  following  game-trails, 
also  followed  streams  to  the  sources  and  penetrated  main'  a  clove  and 
notch.  Southwestward  from  Central  Pennsylvania  the  Appalachians  run 
in  parallel  ranges  through  West  Virginia  and  Virginia,  eastern  Tennessee 
and  the  western  Carolinas,  into  northern  Georgia.  Along  the  furrows 
between  these  parallel  ridges,  emigrants  from  Pennsylvania  began  about 
the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  to  pass  toward  the  new  country  they 
called  "the  West."  The  manner  of  their  going  was  much  like  that  of  emi- 
grants across  the  plains  in  later  days:    the  women  and  young  children  in 


CROSSING    THE    PLAINS 
From  drawings  by  F.  O.  C.  Darley 


PIONEERS       0  F    T  H  E      IV  E  S  T 


canvas-covered  wagons,  prototypes  of  the  "prairie-schooner";  the  men  and 
boys  on  horseback  at  front  and  rear,  driving  the  cattle.  Thus  the  Quaker 
Boones  went  from  Berks  county,  near  the  Schuylkill,  in  Pennsylvania,  to 
northwestern  North  Carolina;  a  region  where  then  the  bison  were  so 
abundant  that  three  or  four  men,  with  dogs,  could  kill  from  ten  to  twenty 
in  a  day.  One  of  the  Boone  boys  was  Daniel  (i 734-1 820),  who  became 
and  has  remained  the  typical  pioneer  figure. 

The  Pioneer  Woodsmen 
When  we  say  that  Daniel  Boone  and  others  like  him  were  woodsmen, 
we  mean  that  with  the  minimum  of  outfit  they  could  make    their  way 

through    the    wilderness    and    there  live  for 
long    periods    with    no    outside    aid.     They 
knew  herbs  and   trees — the  ways    of    game 
and  of  Indians.     They  could  improvise  shel- 
ter,    and,    in     the    open,     prepare     simple, 
sufficient  food.     An  important  item  of  their 
dietary  was  parched  and  pulverized   Indian 
corn.     Men  of  the  Boone  stamp  could  out- 
march   military   regulars    and    outmaneuver 
redskins.     Despite  the  disadvantage  of  rifles 
less  accurate   than   those  of  to-day,  and  of 
inferior  loads,  they  were  surpassing  marks- 
men.    Of   frontier    riflemen    Richard  Henry 
Lee   wrote    in    1775:    "There  is   not  one  of 
these  men  who  wish  (wishes)  a  distance  less 
than   200   yards  or  a  larger  object  than  an 
orange.     Every  shot   is   fatal."     About  900 
of  them  won  the  battle  of  King's  Mountain 
(October  7,  1780)  and  thus  turned  the  tide 
againsl  Cornwallis  in  the  South.     The  figures 
tell  the  tale.    The  British  loss,  out  ol  some 
1,100  engaged,  was  placed  at 
iiii  killed,    125   w< >unded,  and 
664    prisoners;    the   American, 
at   only    28    killed    and    62 
wounded.       The     woodsmen's 
( niter    clothing    was    ol    skins; 
commonly  in  the  main  of  deer- 
skin,   treated   not    by   tanning 
bul    by  a   process  of  soaking, 
scraping,    stretching,    rubbing 
with   the  brains  of  the  animal, 
and    smoking.     This    deer-skin 
was    pliable,   quiet,    lasting,    in- 
conspicuous,   warm    in    winter. 


BISON     HUNTING 
From  a  drawing  by  W.  L.  Hudson 


A   HHKI)  OF  BISON 
On   a   lake-dotted    prairie 


207inV)2 


PIONEERS     OF     THE     WEST 


SIMON    KENTON 
From  a  portrait  by  L.  VT.  Morgan 


thorn-proof,  and  too  smooth  to  collect  burrs; 
but  when  wet  it  was  far  from  pleasant  wear. 
It  could  be  fashioned  in  the  wilderness,  with 
no  apparatus  or  materials  save  those  readily  at 
hand;  and,  with  local  modifications,  continued 
to  be  worn  on  the  shifting  American    frontier. 

Shelby  and  Sevier 

Of  those  who  led  the  sharpshooters  at  King's 
Mountain,  two  were  further  celebrated  in  pio- 
neer annals — Isaac  Shelby  (1750-1826)  and  John 
Sevier  (1745-1815),  famed  as  Indian  fighters, 
and  first  governors  respectively  of  Kentucky  and 
Tennessee.  Sevier  was  identified  with  a  little- 
known  chapter  in  American  history.  From  1769  to  1772,  in  what  is  now 
northeastern  Tennessee,  on  lands  then  included  in  the  colony  of  North 
Carolina,  sprang  up  settlements  of  worthy  folk  to  whom  North  Carolina 
gave  neither  recognition  nor  protection.  The  settlers  proceeded  to  organ- 
ize into  the  Watauga  Association,  with  a  form  of  government  by  com- 
mittees. Thus,  before  the  seaboard  colonies  had  begun  to  fight  for  inde- 
pendence, these  dissatisfied  mountaineers  had  in  a  manner  asserted  it. 
At  the  Revolution  the  little  community  was,  on  its  own  petition,  formally 
annexed  to  North  Carolina.  After  the  war,  North  Carolina  offered  to 
cede  to  the  Federal  government  her  western  lands;  and  then  the  men  of 
\\  atauga,  ignored  in  the  matter  of  the  cession,  formed  a  new  state,  called 
Franklin;  adopted  a  constitution;  and  chose  a  legislature  which  elected 
the  popular  Sevier  governor.  Taxes  were  levied,  payable,  in  lieu  of 
money,  in  such  things  as  bacon,  fox-pelts,  and  whiskey.  Factional  differ- 
ences soon  developed;    the  state  of  Franklin  crumbled;    and  Sevier,  its 

only  governor,  was 
arrested  for  treason. 
Allowed  to  escape,  he 
saw  the  western  North 


Carolina  lands  finally- 
ceded  to  the  Federal 
government  (1790)  as 
the  "Territory  south 
of  the  River  Ohio"; 
and  was  a  representa- 
tive in  Congress  from 
the  State  of  Tennes- 
see, into  which  the 
territory  was  afterward 
formed  (admitted 
June    I,   1796). 


5#IM 


■■•*'■ 


Wj. 


FORT  BOONESBOROUGH 
As  it  appeared  just  before  the  siege  of  September,  1778 


PIONEERS     OF     THE     fF  E  S  T 


ZEBULON  PIKE 


James  Robertson 

James  Robertson  (1742-1814),  prominent  in  the 
Watauga  community,  led  thence  a  company  to 
French  Lick,  where  he  founded  Nashborough 
(1780),  the  present  Nashville.  On  the  bluff  above 
the  Cumberland  a  central  fort  was  built;  outside 
this,  along  the  river,  the  cabins  of  the  settlers  were 
roughly  grouped  around  several  "stations" — stock- 
aded refuges  defended  by  blockhouses.  Such  forts 
and  stations  followed  pretty  closely  the  general 
plan  of  Boonesborough,  as  shown  in  one  of  the 
accompanying  illustrations.  Some  of  the  forts  were 
fit  to  offer  stout  and  long  resistance  to  besiegers 
armed  with  nothing  more  effective  than  rifles.  The  "advance  guard  of 
civilization"  at  Nashborough  suffered  sorely  from  the  hostility  of  Chero- 
kees  and  Creeks,  but  Robertson's  heroic  direction  averted  utter  ruin. 
After  the  Revolution,  the  treaty  of  Paris  (1783)  fixed  the  Mississippi  as 
the  western  boundary  of  the  United  States;  and  by  way  of  Nashborough 
(Nashville)  part  of  the  increasing 
tide  of  immigration  moved  to  the 
Mississippi  valley.  Of  early  set- 
tlers beyond  the  Great  Mountains 
it  was  no  less  true  than  it  had  been 
of  early  settlers  along  the  Atlantic, 
that  they  plowed  and  worshiped 
with  rifle  ready,  and  slept  with 
one  eye  open.  It  was  true  straight 
across  the  continent,  wherever  the 
white  man  had  to  encounter  that 
ablest  of  his  savage  foes,  the 
American  Indian.  In  the  narra- 
tives of  Colonel  R.  I.  Dodge,  the 
redman  of  the  plains  parallels  the 
redman  of  the  woods  with  th<>M' 
cruelties  that  to  both  were  but 
exploits  of  legitimate  warfare.  It 
must  be  admitted,  too,  that  some- 
times the  whites  retaliated  with 
equal  ferocity. 

Kenton,  Clark  and  IFayne 

An  Indian-fighter  and  scout  of 
that  period,  with  contemporary 
renown  second  to  that  of  Boone 
alone,  was   simple-hearted   Simon 


AN    EMIGRANT  CA.MP  ON   THE   PI  \l\- 


A     DETACHMENT    ill      UM      i  'I      i  k'l 
In  temporary  cimp 


PIONEERS     OF     THE     WEST 


WILLIAM    CLARK 

From    the    painting    by    Charles 

Willson     Peale,   in    Independence 

Hall,   Philadelphia 


Kenton  (1755-1836),  who,  faring  into  the  Ohio 
country,  in  1787  with  Joseph  May  laid  out  a 
town  at  Limestone  (now  Maysville),  a  point  on 
the  Ohio  River  where  there  had  long  been  a 
landing-spot  for  the  bullet-proof  flat-boats  that 
brought  from  Pittsburg  (Fort  Pitt)  fresh  throngs 
of  settlers.  Kenton,  with  a  Kentucky  party,  also 
reared  (1799)  fourteen  cabins  and  a  fort  near  Mad 
River  in  what  is  now  Clark  county,  Ohio,  thus 
founding  a  settlement  that  later  was  moved  a  few 
miles  eastward  and  became  the  present  Springfield. 
Kenton  once  escaped  death  by  Indian  torture 
through  the  interference  of  Simon  Girty  (1741- 
1818),  a  bloodthirsty  Irish  renegade  to  whose 
credit  nothing  else  is  told.  Girty  (who  had  lived 
with  the  Senecas)  served  the  British  as  an  inter- 
preter in  the  Revolution,  and  afterward  fought  with  the  Indians  whose 
forays  against  the  American  frontier  he  did  all  he  could  to  encourage. 
The  notorious  Simon  and  his  brothers  James  (1743-18 17)  and  George 
(1745-1812),  also  renegades,  formed  a  family  trio  of  "bad  men,"  infa- 
mous throughout  all  the  western  marches.  As  enemies  of  society,  they 
found  worthy  successors  in  the  "border-ruffians,"  out- 
laws, and  desperadoes  of  after-days.  Always,  how- 
ever, such  individuals  were  in  the  minority;  and 
especially  was  this  true  among  the  trans-Appalachian 
pioneers,  who  indeed  sought  a  freer  life  in  a  land  where 
quit-rents  and  tax-gatherers  would  cease  from  troubling, 
but  who  had  no  kinship  with  anarchy  or  license.  The 
form  of  compact  entered  into  by  Robertson's  isolated 
colonists  stated  that  "until  the  full  and  proper  exercise 
of  the  laws  of  our  country  can  be  in  use  and  the  pow- 
ers   of    government    exerted    among   us,  we  do  most 

solemnly  and  sacredly  declare 
and  promise  each  other  that  we 
will  ...  at  all  times,  if  need  be, 
compel,  by  our  united  force, 
a  due  obedience  to  these  our 
rules  and  regulations."  This 
was  also  essentially  the  spirit 
of  the  trans-Mississippi  "vigi- 
lance committees"  in  Califor- 
nia, Idaho,  and  Montana; 
maintained,  if  need  was, 
against  venal  judge  or  treach- 
erous sheriff. 


CONVEYING    AN    EMIGRANT    WAGON    ACROSS    THE    PLATTE 
RIVER 
From     an     Ackerman     lithographic     print 

6 


PIONEERS     OF     THE      WEST 


As  a  young  man,  Simon  Kenton  served  with  George  Rogers  Clark 
(1752-1818),  most  comprehensive  mind  and  most  vivid  figure  among  the 
pioneers  of  his  era.  Clark,  who  had  made  his  home  in  the  Kentucky  dis- 
trict in  1776,  was  the  first  to  divine  the  fact  that  the  constant  raids  by 
Indians  of  the  Old  Northwest  on  settlements  south  of  the  Ohio  were 
inspired  by  British  officers  north  of  it.  \\  ith  inadequate  official  support 
and  less  than  two  hundred  volunteers,  he  set  out  in  1778  on  an  expedition 
to  the  Illinois.  His  youthful  enthusiasm  beat  down  disheartening  obsta- 
cles; his  ability  and  energy  triumphed.  In  a  few  months  he  brought 
within  the  sphere  of  American  influence  practically  all  of  the  Northwest 

region  save  Detroit  and  minor  posts  on  the  Canada 
boundary;  made  peace-treaties  with  ten  or  a  dozen 
tribes;  and  placed  the  United  States  in  such  a 
position  that  the  American  commissioners  at  Paris 
could  insist  upon  the  cession  of  territory  subse- 
quently divided  into  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michi- 
gan and  Wisconsin.  Completion  of  Clark's  mission, 
denied  to  him,  was  fifteen  years  later  entrusted 
to  Major-General  Anthony  Wayne  (1745-1796), 
the  dashing  "Mad  Anthony"  whose  recapture  of 
Stony  Point  by  a  bayonet  attack  at  midnight  had 
been  the  boldest  and  most  spectacular  feat  of  the 
Revolution.  With  about  2,000  regulars  of  the 
reorganized  army  and  some  1,600  Kentucky  militia, 
Wayne  in  1794  gave  to 
the  Northwestern  warriors, 
again  intractable,  their  final  defeat.  At  Fort 
Greenville  (on  the  site  of  what  is  now  Greenville 
in  Darke  county,  Ohio),  he  negotiated  with 
them  a  treaty  that  made  possible  the  peacelul 
occupation  of  the  country  from  the  Ohio  to  the 
head  of  Lake  Superior.  Various  lands  to  which 
they  renounced  claim  included  the  sites  of  the 
present  cities  of  Chicago,  Detroit,  Fort  Wayne, 
and  Toledo.  Wayne  was  the  first  of  a  series  of 
I  nited  States  army  officers  that  must  be  recog- 
nized as  pioneers. 

In  1795  treaty  arrangements  for  the  joint 
navigation  of  the  Mississippi  were  concluded 
with  Spain,  which  had  claimed  exclusive  rights 
to  the  river  from  its  mouth  to  the  Yazoo, 
about  where  Vicksburg  now  stands.  This  was 
1  news  to  the  settlers  between  the  Appal- 
achians and  the  Mississippi;  for  they  had  thus 
free  outlet  to  New  Orleans  for  their  trade     The 


ANTHONY  WAYNE 


MERItt  ETHER   1  I 
From  ■   drav 
flrst   ippcarcJ   in    the   An. 


PIONEERS     OF     THE      IV  E  S  T\ 


STATUE  OF  SAM  HOUSTON 

Modeled     by     Elizabet    Ney     for 

Statuary      Hall,      the      Capitol, 

Washington 


XationalTurnpike  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Mis- 
sissippi was  not  authorized  until  1806;  in  1795 
the  western  roads  were  little  better  than  the 
"traces"  cut  by  pioneers,  such  as  Boone's 
"Wilderness  Road."  The  traces  had  been 
widened  enough  to  let  vehicles  through;  but  such 
so-called  roads  were  always  difficult  and  at  times 
impassable.  Hence  the  Westerners  turned  to 
the  streams;  and  for  many  years  their  goods 
were  carried  in  lighters  called  "flat-boats," 
"keel-boats,"  and  "arks,"  which  were  propelled 
by  sweeps  up  the  Ohio  or  drifted  leisurely  down 
the  Mississippi  to  New  Orleans.  Lincoln  made 
two  voyages  to  New  Orleans  in  flat-boats — the 
second  from  Sangamon  county,  Illinois,  in  a  craft 
he  had  helped  to  build.  River  trade  began  to  flourish 
along  the  present  Missouri  shore.  Clark's  expedition  had 
effectually  banished  any  idea  Spain  may  have  had  of 
affirming  dominion  east  of  the  river;  and  later  the  Span- 
ish authorities  at  St.  Louis,  when  they  feared  possible 
British  attack  from  Canada,  most  hospitably  welcomed 
American  settlers  into  upper  Louisiana.  These  came  in 
considerable  numbers — especially  from  Virginia,  Kentucky,  and  Tennessee,  and  took  up 
liberal  land-grants.  St.  Louis  was  soon  recognized  as  the  key  to  the  trans-Mississippi 
country;  and  Missouri  was  the  center  and  starting-point  of  every  sort  of  pioneer  activity. 

Opening  Up  The  Far  West 

After  an  obscure  residence  in  what  is  now  West  Virginia,  Boone,  dispossessed  from 
his  lands  in  Kentucky,  appeared  about  1779  in  Missouri,  where  the  Spaniards,  with  a 

sense  of  regard  superior  to  that  of  his  own  countrymen, 
made  him  a  syndic  (a  kind  of  magistrate).  From  Mis- 
souri Captain  Meriwether  Lewis  (1774-1S09)  and  Cap- 
tain William  Clark  (1770-1838),  brother  of  George  Rogers 
Clark,  set  out  in  1804 — the  year  in  which  the  United 
States  took  possession  of  upper  Louisiana — on  their  his- 
toric journey  to  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia*;  and  from 
Missouri  Zebulon  Montgomery  Pike  (1779-1813)  depar- 
ted on  his  explorations.  Missouri  was  the  boyhood 
home  of  "Kit"  Carson  (1809-1868),  a  relative  of  Daniel 
Boone,  and  himself  not  unworthy  of  being  styled  the 
'     ||\  Boone  of  the  Far  West.     In  Missouri  Moses  Austin  tar- 

^C*        ^-    •  ried,  and  thence  he  rode  a  thousand  miles  on   horseback 

to  San  Antonio  de  Bexar  to  petition   in   person  for  the 
I   -"v^  right  to  establish  in  Texas  a  colony  of  American  immi- 

grants. In  Missouri  Stephen  Fuller  Austin  (1793-1836), 
Moses  Austin's  son,  who  later  established  the  colony 
and  so  founded  modern  Texas,  was  a  member  of  the 
territorial  legislature  in  1813-1819.  Out  of  Missouri  in 
1S43  went  the  "Great  Immigration"  of  900  persons  to 
Oregon,  where  their  presence  determined  the  perma- 
nent ownership  of   that    entire    country.      In    Missouri 


PORTRAIT   OF  HOUSTON 
After    a    daguerreotype    by    Brady 


•See  Mentor  Number  178.  "The  Lewis  and  Clark  Expedition.' 


PIONEERS     OF     THE     WEST 


SAM  HOUSTON 
From   a   daguerreotype   by   Paige, 
Washington 


trappers  and  miners  outfitted  and  traders  prepared  their 
merchandise.  From  Missouri  southwest  led  the  old 
Santa  Fe  Trail,  over  which  for  more  than  three-quarters 
of  a  century  passed  and  repassed  the  pack-trains  and  the 
wagon  caravans;  the  commerce  with  Mexico  requiring  in 
i860  no  less  than  62,000  mules  and  oxen,  3,000  wagons, 
and  7,000  men.  In  Missouri  was  the  eastern  terminus 
of  the  pony-express,  whose  riders,  fearless  and  tireless, 
carried  the  mails  by  relays  across  the  plains. 

Gradually  the  labors  of  Lewis  and  Clark,  Pike,  Bonne- 
ville, and  Fremont  spread  knowledge  of  the  middle  and 
far  West,  of  which  American  geographers  had  been  more 
ignorant  than  to-day  they  are  of  Africa.  Pike,  then  a 
lieutenant  in  the  United  States  army,  explored  the  head- 
waters of  the  Mississippi  in  1805-1806;  and  later  (1806- 
1807),  having 
followed      the 


Missouri    and 
Osage    rivers, 
traversed  ter- 
ritory now  included  in  the  states  of  Kansas, 
Nebraska,    and    Colorado.     He   discovered 
the  mountain  afterward  called  Pike's  Peak, 
in  the  ascent  of  which  he  failed,  having  in 
error  taken  a  trail  that  brought  him  to  the 
top  of  Mt.  Cheyenne;  and  he  also  visited 
Royal    gorge  of  the    upper   Arkansas. 
When  but  thirty-four,  while  serving  as  adju- 
tant and    inspector-general    in  the  War  of 
181 2,  he  was  killed  in  the  attack  on  York 
(the  present  Toronto),  Canada.     The  name 
of  Benjamin  L.  E.  Bonneville  (1795-1 STS) 
is  not  now  so  well  known   as   once   it   was, 
when  Bonneville's  journal,  prepared  for  the 
by  Washington  Irvine, 
1    popular  book,   under 
the  captivating  title  of  "The 
Adventures    of    Captain 
Bonneville,  V.  S.  A.,  in  the 
.Mountains   and    the 
Far  West."     Bonneville,  on 
of    absence   from    the 
army  and  acting  chiefly  on 
wn    initiative,    passed 
through  country  now  im  lu- 
ded  in  Colorado  and  \\ 

the  basin  of  the 
Great  Salt  Lake,  and  thence 
to  tht.-  Mexican  pr<  >\  ince  of 
California.  Cone  from  1831 
|6,  lie  was  'ji\  en  up  I'  'i 
dead  and  his  name  was 
stricken  from  the  rolls  of  the 

army.  He  lived  however, toa 
ripe  age,  and  was  in  command 


SAM     HOUSTON'S     HOME 
In  Houston,  Tevas 


SCENE  ON  THE  BATTLKHEin  01"  >\N  rEXAS 


PIONEERS     OF     THE      WEST 


THE    JOLLY    FLAT-BOAT    MEN 
After    a    painting    by    G.    C.    Bingham 


« if  !  he  St.  Louis  barracks  during  the  Civil 
War.  JohnCharlesFr£mont  (1813-1890), 
known  as  "the  Pathfinder,"  led  five  expe- 
ditions that  together  ranged  over  a  goodly 
portion  of  the  West  from  the  Mississippi 
valley  to  the  Pacific.  It  was  on  the  third 
of  these  (1846-1847)  that  he  played,  in  tin- 
American  "conquest"  or  occupation  of 
California,  a  part  that  has  been  variously 
represented  and  often  bitterly  discussed. 
On  each  of  his  first  three  expeditions 
Fremont  owed  much  to  the  skill  and 
prowess  of  Christopher  ("Kit")  Carson, 
a  professional  guide  of  very  wide  knowl- 
edge and  a  plainsman  of  the  highest 
type,  who  afterward  acted  as  guide  to 
emigrant  parties  crossing  the  prairies, 
and,  during  the  Civil  War,  was  the 
trusted  chief-of-scouts  fortheUnion  army 
in  the  Southwest.  This  Homeric  man  was  preeminently  the  hero  of  the  far  West- 
ern frontier,  and  his  fame  survives  in  countless  tales  of  his  hardihood  and  daring. 
Other  frontier  scouts  and  guides  also  gave  to  the  army  the  benefit  of  their  keen  sense, 
experience,  and  amazing  knowledge  of  local  topography;  and  their  services  were 
generously  recognized  in  official  reports.  Such  were  "Jim"  Bridger,  a  remarkable 
trailer,  believed  to  be  the  first  white  man  to  see  the  Great  Salt  Lake  (1824);  James  B. 
Hichox  ("Wild  Bill");  Amos  Chapman,  commemorated  by  Colonel  Dodge;  and 
William  P.  Cody  (famous  as  "Buffalo  Bill"),  who  died  at  Denver  in  191 7,  aged  seventy- 
one,  the  last  of  the  race.  Shortly  before  his  death,  Cody  in  an  interview  said:  "All 
of  them  to-day — the  best  shots,  I  mean — can  beat  us  old-timers  every  time.  But," 
he  added,  "we  did  the  work  all  the  same.  We  had  to."  A.  H.  Hardy,  an  excellent 
judge,  once  declared  that  "Buffalo  Bill"  was  the  best  shot  from  horseback  that  the 
world  has  ever  seen. 

Sam  Houston  and  Davy  Crockett 
In  Texas,   Austin — patient,  wise,    just — a  man  to  whom,  as  a  Texan  said,   men 
delighted  to  entrust  their  property,  their    fortunes,  and  their  lives — gladly  resigned 

his  leadership  to  Sam  Houston 
(1 793-1 863).  Houston,  one  of  the 
picturesque  figures  of  American 
annals,  was  born  in  Rockbridge 
county,  in  the  Blue  Ridge  section 
of  Virginia;  passed  a  backwoods 
youth  there  and  in  Blount  county, 
Tennessee;  was  adopted  into  a 
Cherokee  household;  rose  quickly 
into  political  note;  served  two  terms 
in  Congress  as  a  representative 
from  Tennessee;  wounded  his  man 
in  one  of  the  duels  then  so  fashion- 
able in  both  the  older  and  the  newer 
West;  and  was  elected  governor 
of  his  State.  Successful,  popular, 
nominated  for  a  second  term,  he 
nevertheless  resigned  his  office  for 
personal  reasons,  quit  Tennessee, 
and  in   1832  went  fo  Texas.     There 


A    HUNTER   IN   THE   ROCKIES 
From  a   drawing  by   F.  0.  C.   Darley 


10 


PIONEERS     OF     THE      fT  E  S  T 


chosen  to  lead  the  forces  of  the  Texan  revolution,  he  roundly  defeated  the  Mexi- 
cans at  San  Jacinto  (1836)  with  a  little  army  of  about  800,  the  pick  of  the  pioneers, 
every  man  of  whom  furnished  his  own  rifle.  From  that  time  until  his  death,  as  presi- 
dent of  the  Republic  of  Texas,  governor  of  the  State,  and  United  States  senator,  he 
was  easily  the  foremost  man  of  that  region.  Cast  in  the  frontier  mould,  Houston 
could  sway  a  frontier  audience  by  his  oratory  as  well  as  lead  frontiersmen  to  battle. 
In  his  view  of  the  Indian  question  he  was  free  of  the  general  pioneer  prejudice.  "I 
am  a  friend  of  the  Indian,"  he  once  said,  "on  the  principle  that  I  am  a  friend  to  justice. 
We  are  not  bound  to  make  them  promises;  but  if  a  promise  be  made  to  an  Indian,  it 
ought  to  be  regarded  as  sacredly  as  if  it  were  made  to  a  white  man." 

Forever  identified  with  early  Texas  is  also  David  ("Davy")  Crockett  (1786- 
1836),  although  it  was  in  Tennessee  that  he  gained  his  reputation  as  hunter,  scout, 
marksman,  story-teller,  and  all-around  original  character.  This  whimsical,  valiant 
woodsman,  whom  Andrew  Jackson  could  not  intimidate,  offered  his  services  to  the 
Texan  revolution  and  fell  in  that  most  celebrated  of  all  frontier  fights — the  defense  of 
the  Alamo.  With  him  fell  Lieutenant-Colonel  William  B.  Travis,  the  commandant, 
whose  letter  announcing  that  he  was  besieged  has  been  termed  "the  most  heroic 
document  among  American  historical  records";  and  Colonel  James  Bowie,  reputed 
inventor  of  that  famed  frontier  weapon,  the  bowie-knife.  The  volume  of  "Colonel 
Crockett's  Exploits  and  Adventures  inTexas,"  though  professing  to  be  autobiographical, 
unquestionably  neither  originated  with  Crockett  nor  was  authorized  by  him;  and  it  is 
not  an  authentic  record.  It  is  representative  of  a  large  body  of  spurious  narratives  that 
collected  around  the  names  of  many  pioneers,  and  in  particular  those  of  Boone,  Crock- 
ett, and  Carson.  The  true  story  of  what  such  men  were  and  did  is  more  fascinating 
than  anv  fiction  of  which  they  have  been  made  the  heroes. 


1  1 


— -  SA 

(NITEI)  STATES 


From  U>«  Snettl*>p»**t>n  Brft— <M,  bf  potmImIm 

H0«'   THE    UNITED    STATES    GRADUA1 1 Y    INCREASED    IN    AREA 


PIONEERS     OF     THE      WEST 


A  FEW  IMPORTANT  DATES  IN  THE  CHRONOLOGY  OF  THE   WESTERN 

MOVEMENT 

The  Boones  settle  in  North  Carolina About  1751 

Daniel  Boone  first  visits  the  Kentucky  region 1767 

Boone,  John  Finley,  and  others  roam  Kentucky 1769-71 

John  Sevier  leads  in  forming  the  Watauga  Association '772 

Boone  founds  Boonesborough  and  cuts  the  "Wilderness  Road" 1775 

George   Rogers  Clark  brings  the  Old  Northwest  under  American  influence  1778-79 

James  Robertson  establishes  his  settlement  on  the  Cumberland 1780 

Marietta,  Ohio,  is  founded  by  Gen.  Rufus  Putnam  and  his  associates  .    .    .  1788 
A  settlement  is  made  on  the  site  of  the  present  Cincinnati  by  John  Filson 

and  others 1788 

The  Louisiana  Territory  is  purchased  from  France 1803 

Lewis  and  Clark  conduct  their  expedition  from  St.  Louis  to  the  mouth  of 

the  Columbia 1804-06 

Pike  leads  his  expedition  to  "the  sources  of  the   Mississippi  and  through 

the  Western  parts  of  Louisiana" 1805-06 

An  act  of  Congress  provides  for  the  building  of  a  great  highway  from   the 

Atlantic  to  the  Mississippi 1806 

Pike  makes  his  tour  "through  the  interior  parts  of  New  Spain" 1806-07 

Moses  Austin  leaves  Missouri  for  Texas 1820 

Stephen  F.  Austin  conducts  his  first  settlers  to  the  lower  Brazos      ....  1821 

Chicago  is  started  on  its  career  as  a  town 1 833 

Sam  Houston  wins  the  battle  of  San  Jacinto  and  Texan  independence   .  1836 

Fremont  begins  his  series  of  explorations 1842 

Texas  is  admitted  to  the  LTnited  States 1845 

Theboundary  of  theOregon  country  isdetermincd  by  treaty  withGreat  Britain  1846 
The  treaty  of  Guadalupe-Hidalgo  is  signed,  by  which  Mexico  cedes  to  the 
United  States  a  territory  comprising  the  present  California,  Nevada 
and    L^tah;    most   of  Arizona;  a  large  portion  of  New  Mexico;  and 

parts  of  Wyoming  and  Colorado 1848 

The  United  States  acquires  a  tract  of  45,535   square  miles  in  the  present 
Arizona  and  New  Mexico,  by  purchase  from  Mexico  for  $10,000,000 

(the  Gadsden  Purchase) 1853 

Transcontinental    railway   connection  is  established  from   the  Atlantic  to 

the  Pacific 1869 


SUPPLEMENTARY  READING 

THE  OLD  NORTHWEST By  B.  A.  Hinsdale 

THE  WINNING  OF  THE  WEST.     6  volumes By  Theodore  Roosevelt 

THE  WESTWARD  MOVEMENT,  1763-98 Bv  Justin  Winsor 

SAM   HOUSTON Bx  George  S.  Bryan 

DAVID  CROCKETT  AND  EARLY  TEXAN  HISTORY    --....    By'joknS.  C.  Abbott 

CONQUEST  OF  THE  NORTHWEST    -      -      - By  W.  H.  English 

KIT  CARSON.  PIONEER  OF  THE  FAR  WEST- -    By  John  S.  C.  Abbott 

♦EXPEDITION  OF  ZEBULON  M.  PIKE.     3  volumes  Edited  by  Elliott  Coues 

ANTHONY  WAYNE -       .  By  J.  R.  Spears 

DANIEL  BOONE - By  Reuben  Gold  Thaaites 

HOW  GEORGE  ROGERS  CLARK  WON  THE  NORTHWEST        -       -       -     By  Reuben  Gold  Tha-aites 
*Out  of  print,  but  may  be  found  in  libraries. 

*,*Information  concerning  these  books  may  be  had  on  application  to  the  Editor  of  The  Mentor. 

12 


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i 

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ft 

1                               ff*4 

J 


-. 


►^ic* 


"*«*vtw«  rwom  tw  ruiirtiM  «r  uonid  ou»m. 


DANIEL  BOONE 


PIONEERS  OF  THE  WEST 


Daniel  Boone 


ONE 


ANIEL  BOONE  was  born — son  of  Squire  and  Sarah 
(Morgan)  Boone — in  Oley,  in  what  is  now  Berks 
County,  Pennsylvania  (about  eight  miles  south- 
east of  the  present  Reading),  on  November  2,  1734. 
(Some  authorities  give  the  date,  February  11, 1735.)  Cradled  in 
the  backwoods,  he  remained  a  woodsman  all  his  days.    Indians 


were  to  him  a  usual  sight.  At  twelve  he 
received  a  rifle,  and  with  this  in  the  win- 
ter he  hunted  over  the  Neversinks.  The 
meat  of  his  game  he  cured  for  the  family; 
the  peltries  he  took  to  Philadelphia  for  bar- 
ter. He  learned  "the  three  R's"  from  a 
sister-in-law,  later  we  find  him  able  to  do 
rough  surveying  and  keep  notes  of  it. 

In  1750  Squire  Boone  left  Oley  for  North 
Carolina,  where  (probably  in  1751)  he 
settled  on  the  north  fork  of  the  Yadkin  in 
the  present  Davie  county.  Daniel  appears 
as  a  wagoner  with  Braddock;  and  in  the 
disaster  near  Fort  Duquesne  he  saved  his 
life  by  escaping  on  one  of  his  team.  It 
was  during  Braddock's  expedition  that 
Boone  first  heard  from  one  John  Finley, 
rover  and  trader,  of  the  Kentucky  coun- 
try; but  years  were  to  go  by  before  he  saw 
it.  In  the  meantime  he  married  Rebecca 
Bryan,  wandered  through  southwestern 
Virginia  and  eastern  Tennessee,  and  made 
a  trip  to  Florida.  Game  grew  scarcer  in 
the  Yadkin  region;  and  on  May  1,  1769, 
Boone,  with  Finley  and  four  others,  set 
out  to  view  Kentucky.  Having  passed 
through  the  Cumberland  gap,  they  made  a 
station-camp  in  what  is  now  Estill  county. 
Hunting,  climbing,  and  prepa  Jig  peltries, 
Boone  spent  there  what  he  afterward 
termed  the  happiest  months  of  his  life. 
In  Kentucky  he  remained  until  March  1, 
1771;  his  brother  Squire  (who  had  joined 
him  in  December,  1769)  being  from  Feb- 
ruary, 1770,  his  only  companion.  Twice 
he  was  entirely  alone — from  May  1  to  the 
end  of  July,  1770,  and  again  for  two 
months  in  the  fall  and  early  winter  of  that 
year.  During  the  first  period,  without 
bread,  salt,  sugar,  dog,  or  horse,  and  with 
but  scanty  ammunition,  he  explored  the 
valleys  of  the  Licking  and  the  Kentucky, 
and  went  down  the  course  of  the  Ohio  to 
the  site  of  the  present  Louisville.  While 
making  their  way  out  to  the  Yadkin,  the 
Boone  brothers  were  set  upon  by  Indians 
and  robbed  of  all  the  peltries  they  had. 
Daniel  reached  home  poorer  than  when  he 
left;  but  he  had  seen  Kentucky,  the  land 
of  his  ideals. 

In  1775  four  proprietors,  of  whom  Col. 
Richard  Henderson  was  chief,  formed  the 
Transylvania  company,  which,  on  the 
basis  of  Boone's  reports  of  the  country, 
proposed  to  establish  in  Kentucky  a  col- 
ony to  be  known  as  Transylvania.  For 
this  colony  Boone  was  sent  to  found  a 
capital.  With  an  advance-party  of  some 
thirty  he  cut  from  the  Holston  to  the  Ken- 
tucky the  earliest  well-marked  path 
through  the  trans-Appalachian  wilderness; 
first  known  as  "Boone's  trace,"  later  as 
"the  Wilderness  road."    At  Big  Lick  on 


the  Kentucky  he  laid  out  the  site  of 
Boonesborough.  From  the  outset  Tran- 
sylvania met  objection  and  opposition  in 
many  quarters;  the  Revolution  ended  all 
proprietary  government,  and  in  1778  Vir- 
ginia nullified  the  company's  claims.  In 
January,  1778,  Boone  headed  a  party  that 
went  to  Lower  Blue  Licks  to  boil  salt. 
There  he  was  captured  by  Shawnees  and 
taken  to  Little  Chillicothe,  their  principal 
town,  some  three  miles  north  of  where 
Xenia  now  is.  Though  adopted,  under  the 
name  of  Big  Turtle  (Sheltowee),  by  Chief 
Black  Fish,  he  was  carefully  watched:  butat 
last  he  made  his  escape,  and  after  a  four-day 
journey  through  one  hundred  and  sixty 
miles  of  forest — during  which  time  he  ate 
but  one  meal — he  reached  Boonesborough. 

In  1780  Boone  moved  about  five  miles 
northeastward  and  built  Boone's  Station 
within  the  limits  of  Fayette  county,  Vir- 
ginia. There  he  served  as  lieutenant- 
colonel  of  militia,  representative  in  the 
Virginia  legislature,  sheriff,  and  county 
lieutenant.  From-  1786  to  1788  he  was 
keeping  a  tavern  at  Limestone  (Mays- 
ville);  and  with  this  he  combined  survey- 
ing, hunting,  trapping,  and  small  trading 
along  the  Ohio.  Having  failed  to  make 
any  of  his  land  preemptions  in  accordance 
with  the  technicalities  of  law,  he  was  the 
victim  of  repeated  suits  of  ejectment;  and 
in  the  end,  although  the  one  man  who  had 
done  most  to  bring  Kentucky  to  general 
notice,  he  held  there  not  a  rood  that  he 
might  call  his  own.  During  the  years  from 
1788  to  1799  he  was  in  the  valley  of  the 
Great  Kanawha  (in  the  present  West  Vir- 
ginia)— conducting  a  little  shop  at  Point 
Pleasant,  and  later  going  to  the  vicinity  of 
Charleston,  where  he  acted  as  land-pilot, 
surveyor,  and  contractor  for  victualling 
the  militia ;  was  lieutenant-colonel  of 
Kanawha  county;  and  again  was  elected 
to  the  Virginia  legislature.  In  the  spring 
of  1799  with  his  heroic  wife  he  made  his 
final  trek;  seeking,  as  he  said,  "more 
elbow-room" — and  also  more  game — - 
beyond  the  Mississippi. 

He  settled  in  the  Femme  Osage  district 
of  Missouri;  and  there  as  a  kind  of  local 
magistrate  he  dispensed  a  patriarchal  jus- 
tice among  the  French  population.  He- 
made  far  trips  through  the  wilds — pene- 
trating at  eighty  to  the  Yellowstone  coun- 
try; and  he  was  eagerly  interested  in  tales 
of  California.  The  latest  real  glimpse  we 
have  of  him  shows  him  in  1819  in  a  log- 
cabin,  roasting  a  venison-steak  at  the  end 
of  a  ramrod.  In  the  words  of  one  who 
knew  him,  "Decay  came  to  him  without 
infirmity,  palsy,  or  pain" ;  and  on  Septem- 
ber 26,  1820,  he  passed  away. 


WRITTEN  FOR  THE  MEVTOR  BV  GEORGE  S.  BRVAN 

ILLUSTRATION   FOR  THE  MENTOR.  VOL.  8.   No    1.  SERIAL  No.   I»7 

COPYRIGHT.    1920.   BV   THE   MENTOR   ASSOCIATION.   INC 


BMMMM  IV  T.  i.  WELCH,  no*  A  FOffTRAIT  »V  J.  ft  LOHCAOtE  '  AT1XH  4  PAINTING  BY  J.  W.  JAJTV1S) 


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GEORGE   ROGERS  CLARK 


PIONEERS  OF  THE  WEST  George  Rogers  Clark 

TWO — — — 

EORGE  ROGERS  CLARK  was  born  near  Char- 
lottesville  (Albemarle  County),  Virginia,  on   No- 
vember   19,    1752.     Clark — a   brother   of   William 
Clark,  of  Lewis  and  Clark  fame — was  a  woodsman 
rom  youth.     Like  another  Virginian,  George  Washington,  he 
early  became  a  surveyor.     This  red-headed,  six-foot,  imperious 

youngster  knew  like  a   book   the   trans-      no  decent  place  for  rest,  and  no  real  meal 


Appalachian  territory  he  had  traversed 
for  the  Ohio  company  and  other  employers. 
He  knew,  too,  his  fellow-pioneers,  and 
through  sheer  personal  influence  could 
sway  and  lead  those  courageous  but  un- 
disciplined men.  They  sent  him  (1776) 
as  a  delegate  to  the  Virginia  Assembly. 

Familiar  with  conditions  north  of  the 
Ohio,  Clark  became  convinced  that  the 
continued  attacks  from  the  Old  North- 
west on  Kentucky  settlements  were  in- 
spired and  abetted  by  British  officers.  He 
was  sure  that  unless  the  British  posts 
were  taken,  Kentuckians  would  be  har- 
ried indefinitely — perhaps  driven  back 
across  the  mountains,  or  wholly  annihil- 
ated. On  his  own  initiative  he  sent  to 
Vincennes  and  Kaskaskia  spies,  of  whom 
Simon  Kenton  was  one;  their  reports 
were  favorable  to  his  plan,  and  he  went 
across  country  to  Williamsburg  for  con- 
sultation with  Gov.  Patrick  Henry  and  the 
Council.  The  result  was  that,  with  a 
commission  as  lieutenant-colonel,  he  re- 
ceived £1,200  in  a  much  depreciated  cur- 
rency and  was  empowered  to  raise  seven 
companies  of  fifty  men  each.  With  less 
than  200  volunteers  Clark  on  June  24, 
1778,  shot  the  Falls  of  the  Ohio  (at  the 
site  of  the  present  Louisville)  during  a 
total  eclipse  of  the  sun ;  followed  the  Ohio 
to  the  deserted  old  French  post  of  Fort 
Massac  (near  the  present  Moundsville, 
Ills.);  and  thence  on  June  29th  struck  out 
for  Kaskaskia.  The  distance  was  a  hun- 
dred and  twenty  miles  or  thereabouts ;  the 
route  difficult;  there  were  neither  wagons 
nor  pack-animals.  By  evening  of  July  4th 
Clark's  force — having  marched  for  two 
days  without  food — was  but  three  miles 
from  Kaskaskia.  After  dark,  Clark  broke 
into  the  apparently  unsentried  fort; 
seized  de  Rocheblave,  the  governor;  and, 
in  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  was  in  possession. 
Capt.  Joseph  Bowman,  with  thirty 
mounted  men,  took  Cahokia  with  similar 
ease.  Late  in  July  the  French  ran  up  the 
American  flag  over  Fort  Sackville  at  Vin- 
cennes; but  in  the  following  December, 
Hamilton  occupied  that  town. 

Thither  Clark  on  February  5,  1779,  set 
out  from  Kaskaskia,  again  with  less  than 
two  hundred  men — Americans  and  French. 
The  river-bottoms  of  the  Wabash  and  its 
tributaries  lay  flooded  after  prolonged 
rains;  and  rain  continued  during  "nearly 
a  third"  of  the  march.  For  ten  days  on 
end  the  unshakable  Clark  kept  his  men 
struggling  across  the  "drowned  lands" 
through  half-frozen  water  never  less  than 
three  feet  deep  and  sometimes  up  to  the 
commander's  shoulders;    with  no  shelter. 


after  February  18th.  Attack  was  made 
on  Fort  Sackville  throughout  the  night  of 
the  23rd-24th;  and  toward  the  close  of  the 
24th  Hamilton  surrendered  this  heavily- 
stockaded  post,  defended  by  a  trained  gar- 
rison and  ample  artillery,  to  a  little  ragged, 
half-starved  band  of  riflemen  that  had  just 
made  the  most  amazing  forced  march  in 
all  American  history. 

Practically  the  whole  of  the  Old  North- 
west was  thus  brought  under  American  in- 
fluence; the  French  inhabitants  now  took 
the  oath  of  allegiance,  and  treaties  were 
made  with  numerous  Indian  tribes.  But, 
through  lack  of  official  support,  Clark  was 
never  able  to  execute  his  cherished  pro- 
ject of  taking  Detroit.'  He  built  (1780) 
Fort  Jefferson  on  the  Mississippi,  about 
five  miles  below  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio; 
destroyed  villages  of  hostile  Indians  at 
Chillicothe  and  Piqua  (1780);  and,  pro- 
moted brigadier-general  of  Virginia  militia, 
ravaged  the  Indian  country  along  the  Big 
Miami  river.  Then  this  man — who  had 
planned  and  achieved  a  conquest  that  won 
vast  territory  for  Virginia;  who  had  ex- 
pended his  private  means  in  the  venture; 
who  had  enabled  the  American  peace 
commissioners  to  demand  of  Great  Britain 
(1783)  that  the  western  boundary  of  the 
United  States  be  fixed  at  the  Mississippi — 
was  not  only  compelled,  as  he  said,  to  see 
"Detroit  lost  for  want  of  a  few  men,"  but 
actually  was  relieved  of  his  command 
(July  2,  1783).  On  May  27,  1783,  he  was 
at  Richmond,  addressing  to  Governor 
Harrison  an  appeal  for  "a  small  sum  of 
money  on  account."  "The  state  will,  I 
believe,"  he  said,  "fall  considerably  in  my 
debt."  It  did — and  when  he  had  been 
some  twenty  years  in  his  grave,  it  settled 
with  his  estate! 

In  1793  Clark,  stung  by  the  treatment 
he  had  received,  took  the  false  step  of 
accepting  an  empty  commission  as  major- 
general  from  Citizen  GenAt,  French  dip- 
lomatic agent  in  the  United  States.  Genfit 
was  developing  a  plot  to  drive  the  Spanish 
from  their  possessions  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Mississippi  and  along  the  Gulf  of  Mexico, 
and  thus  to  regain  for  France  somewhat 
of  her  lost  empire.  Clark's  part  was  to  raise 
a  filibustering  "revolutionary  legion"  in  the 
Mississippi  valley.  Prompt  action  by 
President  Washington  ended  the  con- 
spiracy, and  the  French  government  re- 
called Genfit.  Moody,  paralyzed,  crippled 
by  the  amputation  of  his  left  leg,  Clark 
passed  the  later  years  of  his  life  in  Clarks-_ 
ville,  across  the  Ohio  from  Ix>uisville;  and 
died  at  his  sister's  home  near  Louisville  on 
February  13,  1818. 


WRITTEN    FOR    THE    MENTOR    BY    GEORGE    S.    BRYAN 
ILLUSTRATION  FOR  THE  MENTOR.  VOL.  S.  No.   1.  SERIAL  No. 
COPYRIGHT.    1W0.   BY   THE   MENTOR  ASSOCIATION.   INC. 


IITT    I.  TO.CH.  r*0«  A  PORTRAIT  ■»-.-. 


DAVID  CROCKETT 


PIONEERS  OF  THE  WEST 


David  Crockett 


THREE 


AVY"  CROCKETT  was  born  on  August  17,  1786— 
being  a  son  of  John  and  Rebecca  (Hawkins)  Crock- 
ett— in  a  place  called  Limestone,  in  Greene  County 
northeastern  Tennessee.  His  earlier  years  are  inter- 
esting as  affording  a  specimen  of  frontier  boyhood  and  youth. 
The  family  moved  often;  at  the  period  of  Davy's  first  recorded 

ing  his  second  term  he  won  the  dislike  of 
Jackson  and  Jackson's  supporters  by  open 
opposition  to  the  President's  Indian  pot- 


adventures  the  elder  Crockett  was  keep- 
ing a  kind  of  hedge-inn  on  the  road  from 
Knoxville  to  Abingdon,  Va.  There  he 
hired  out  Davy,  then  about  twelve,  to  a 
passing  drover  bound  for  the  vicinity  of 
the  Natural  Bridge.  Having  made  the 
trip  thither  on  foot,  Davy,  after  a  few 
weeks  of  work  for  the  drover,  ran  away 
home.  Put  at  school,  he  attended  for  four 
days,  thrashed  the  school  bully,  turned 
truant,  fled  to  escape  John  Crockett's 
wrath,  and  was  gone  for  two  years.  After 
rough  experiences  in  various  odd  jobs  he 
returned  so  grown  and  otherwise  altered 
that  a  sister  was  the  only  one  of  the  fam- 
ily who  recognized  him.  Then  he  toiled 
for  a  year  to  pay  John  Crockett's  debts; 
got  a  little  crude  elementary  schooling; 
became  a  crack  rifle-shot  known  as  a 
prize-winner  at  frontier  matches;  married 
when  eighteen;  and  started  housekeeping 
with  two  cows,  two  calves,  and  fifteen  dol- 
lars' worth  of  groceries. 

In  1813-1814  he  served  in  theCreek  War 
under  the  command  of  Andrew  Jackson, 
whom  later  he  was  boldly  to  oppose  in 
politics.  He  was  recognized  as  an  excel- 
lent scout,  and  was  present  at  the  fight  of 
Talladega  (November  9,  1813).  After  the 
war,  he  settled  (having  lost  his  first  wife 
and  married  again)  in  a  locality  known  as 
Shoal  Creek  in  the  present  Giles  county, 
where  he  ran  a  grist-mill,  a  powder-mill, 
and  a  distillery.  When,  for  the  sake  of 
preserving  order,  a  temporary  local  gov- 
ernment was  framed  in  that  district, 
Crockett  was  selected  as  a  magistrate.  He 
also  was  elected  colonel  of  militia  and 
served  as  a  State  representative.  A  freshet 
having  swept  away  his  mills,  he  removed 
to  the  wild  Obion  river  country  in  the  ex- 
treme northwestern  part  of  Tennessee,  and 
there  built  a  cabin  seven  miles  from  the 
nearest  neighbor.  He  was  once  more 
elected  a  representative,  and  became  a 
mighty  bear-hunter;  making  a  record  kill 
of  one  hundred  and  five  animals  in  less 
than  twelve  months. 

In  1827,  after  a  campaign  enlivened  by 
his  quick  wit  and  homely  anecdotes, 
Crockett  was  elected  to  a'  seat  in  the 
national  House  of  Representatives;  and 
in  1829  he  was  reelected.  He  did  not 
make  any  particular  mark  as  a  statesman, 
but  was  regarded  as  perfectly  honest  and 
though  nominally  a  Jackson  Democrat, 
strictly  independent  in  his  views.  His 
fellow-legislators  chuckled  over  his  sallies; 
people  were  inclined  to  lionize  him;  news- 
paper men  found  him  "good  copy."    Dur- 


lcy.  Through  various  means,  administra- 
tion influence,  paramount  in  Tennessee, 
was  directed  against  him;  and  when  in 
1831  he  was  again  a  candidate,  he  was,  to 
use  his  own  phrase,  "hunted  down  like  a 
wild  varmint."  To  the  surprise  of  most 
political  prophets,  his  fourth  campaign 
(1833)  proved  successful. 

In  1834  he  made  the  trip  described  in 
"An  Account  of  CoL  Crockett's  Tour  to 
the  North  and  Down  East"  (1835).  It 
partook  of  the  nature  of  a  triumphal 
progress.  Most  persons  had  at  least  a 
curious  interest  in  the  man  who  had  defied 
"Old  Hickory."  Everywhere  he  was  re- 
ceived with  tokens  of  honor,  especially  by 
the  Young  Democrats;  and  he  spoke  to 
thousands.  As  guest  at  a  rife-match  in 
Jersey  City,  with  a  strange  weapon  and 
without  a  rest,  he  shot  a  quarter-dollar  to 
bits  at  forty  yards.  From  a  Roxbury 
(Mass.)  manufacturer  he  received  a  water- 
proof hunting-coat;  the  Young  Demo- 
crats of  Philadelphia  presented  to  him  a 
handsome  rifle.  Among  places  of  inter- 
est visited  by  him  were  Faneuil  hall,  Bun- 
ker Hill  monument  (not  yet  completed), 
the  Charlestown  navy-yard,  and  the  mills 
at  Lowell.  In  1835  he  stood  for  reelection 
to  Congress.  The  Jackson  machine  in 
Tennessee  made  extra  effort  to  defeat  him, 
and  defeated  he  was;  not  without  suspi- 
cion of  fraud.  He  was  greatly  disappointed 
and  disgusted — so  greatly  that  he  set  his 
face  toward  Texas,  haven  for  many  a  dis- 
appointed and  disgusted  man. 

By  January  5,  1836,  Crockett  was  in 
Nacogdoches.  A  provisional  government 
had  been  organized  by  the  Texans;  and 
the  Mexicans  were  beginning  an  invasion 
in  force.  Some  revolutionist  spirits  were 
giving  a  banquet  at  Nacogdoches;  and 
when  it  was  learned  that  Crockett  was  in 
the  town,  a  committee  was  sent  to  invite 
his  company.  His  arrival  was  greeted 
with  three  cheers — followed  by  more  when 
he  announced  his  intention  of  becoming  a 
Texan.  Forthwith  he  was  escorted  to  the 
office  of  a  local  justice,  where  he  took  the 
oath.  In  a  mood  for  desperate  chances,  he 
joined  the  garrison  of  the  Alamo,  which 
was  besieged  from  February  23  and  on 
March  6  was  taken  by  storm.  In  the 
hand-to-hand  struggle  that  ensued,  Crock- 
ett fell,  overpowered  by  numbers,  sur- 
rounded by  a  heap  of  Mexicans  he  had 
slain. 


WRITTEN  FOR  THE  MENTOR  BV  GEORGE  S    BRVAN 

ILLUSTRATION   FOR  THE  MENTOR.  VOL.  8.  No.   I.  SERIAL  No.   197 

COPYRIGHT.   IK20.   BY   THE   MENTOR   ASSOCIATION.   INC. 


PHOTOCRATM  BT  TW  CUMEWH5T  STUMO  OF   THE  STATUE  IT    ELUAEfT     HTI   IN  STATUUT  HALL  OT  THE  CAFtTtH.   ■ASHiMCTTJH.  0.  C 


X 


> 


! 


STEPHEN  FULLER  AUSTIN 


PIONEERS  OF  THE  WES T  Stephen  Fuller  Justin 

FOUR 

HE  story  of  what  Stephen  Austin  did  and  was 
really  begins  with  Moses  Austin  (1767-1821),  Ste- 
phen's father,  a  New  Englander  from  Durham  in 
Middlesex  County,  Connecticut.  Moses  Austin  was 
a  merchant  who  turned  pioneer.  Partner  in  an  importing 
business  in  Philadelphia,  he  removed  to  Richmond,  Va.,  to 


take  charge  of  a  branch  that  the  firm  had 
opened  there.  From  Richmond  he  went 
to  Wythe  connty  in  southwestern  Virginia 
as  manager  of  lead  mines  owned  by  the 
concern.  The  mines  in  Wythe  county  did 
not,  however,  turn  out  to  be  productive 
enough  to  suit  him;  so  in  1796  he  started 
for  Missouri,  of  whose  lead-fields  he  had 
heard  promising  reports.  He  travelled 
by  wav  of  Boone's  "Wilderness  road"  to 
Louisville,  and  thence  to  Kaskaskia;  and 
in  what  is  now  Washington  County,  Mo., 
he  obtained  from  the  Spanish  authorities 
a  grant  of  land  on  which  lead-mines  were 
located.  In  1819  he  made  to  Stephen, 
his  son,  the  suggestion  of  establishing  in 
Texas — then  Spanish  territory — an  Amer- 
ican colony. 

Stephen  Fuller  Austin  was  born  in  Aus- 
tinville,  Wythe  county,  Virginia,  on 
November  3,  1793.  He  was  well  educated 
at  New  London,  Conn.,  and  at  Transyl- 
vania University  (Lexington,  Ky.).  From 
1813  to  1819  he  was  a  member  of  the  ter- 
ritorial legislature  of  Missouri.  As  the 
first  step  in  the  colonizing  project,  he  went 
in  April,  1819,  to  Long  Prairie  on  the  Red 
River,  there  to  take  up  a  farm  that  might 
be  used  as  headquarters  of  the  enterprise. 
In  the  autumn  of  1820  Moses  Austin  took 
on  horseback  the  tedious  journey  from 
Washington  County  to  San  Antonio  de 
Bexar — eight  hundred  miles  of  it,  at  least; 
probably  nearer  a  thousand — in  order  to 
interview  Governor  Martinez.  A  peti- 
tion of  Austin  that  he  might  be  allowed 
to  bring  into  Texas  three  hundred  families 
from  the  United  States  was  finally  for- 
warded to  the  authorities  of  the  Eastern 
Internal  Provinces.  On  the  way  back 
through  the  Texas  wilderness  to  Natchi- 
toches, La.,  he  underwent  such  hardships 
and  exposure  that  his  health  was  seriously 
affected,  and,  during  the  next  summer,  he 
died,  having  not  long  before  learned  that 
his  petition  had  been  granted. 

Stephen  Austin  had  been  at  New  Or- 
leans, enlisting  support  for  the  proposed 
colony  and  enrolling  immigrants.  Now, 
on  the  way  to  San  Antonio,  he  received 
news  of  his  father's  death.  He  therefore 
obtained  recognition  from  the  governor, 
who  approved  his  scheme  of  land-appor- 
tionment and  empowered  him  to  pick  out 
along  the  Colorado  river  a  location  for  his 
colony.  Having  selected  a  tract  between 
the  lower  waters  of  the  Colorado  and  the 
Brazos,  he  brought  in  the  first  detach- 
ment of  settlers  in  December,  1821.  The 
first  two  years  were  made  distressful  by 
the  lack  of  supplies,  which  had  been  sent 
by  water  but  had  failed  to  reach  them; 
by  Indian  harassment;    and  from  other 


causes.  Unfortunately,  also,  it  was  neces- 
sary for  Austin  to  be  absent  from  the 
colony  at  this  crucial  time.  From  March, 
1822,  to  August,  1823,  he  was  gone  on  a 
mission  to  Mexico  City.  Mexico  had  de- 
clared its  independence  and  Austin  was 
compelled  to  get  a  renewal  of  his  grant. 
To  reach  the  Mexican  capital  he  had  to 
ride  some  1,200  miles  through  a  country 
given  over  to  disorder.  The  decree  of  con- 
firmation that  he  finally,  by  his  quiet  per- 
sistence, obtained,  enabled  him  to  admin- 
ister justice  and  to  organize  his  colonists 
into  a  militia  body  commanded  by  'him- 
self. In  1823  the  capital  of  the  colony  was 
fixed  at  San  Felipe  de  Austin  (now  San 
Felipe)  on  the  Brazos  (not  to  be  confused 
with  the  present  Austin  on  the  Colorado) 
— and  a  period  of  successful  growth  began. 
Austin  administered  affairs  with  firm 
moderation. 

When  a  convention  of  Texans  met  on 
April  1,  1833,  at  San  Felipe  and  drafted 
a  state  constitution  for  Texas  (Sam  Hous- 
ton being  chairman  of  the  committee  that 
framed  it),  Austin  was  appointed  to  sub- 
mit the  proposed  constitution  to  the 
authorities  at  Mexico  City  and  to  urge  its 
approval.  He  was  not  in  sympathy  with 
the  aggressive  majority  that  controlled 
the  convention,  but  as  it  was  a  majority 
he  respected  its  wishes  and  went — at  his 
own  expense.  After  six  months'  labor,  not 
having  been  able  to  achieve  his  object,  he 
starred  homeward  in  December.  At  Sal- 
tillo  he  was  arrested;  and  from  there  he 
was  sent  back  to  Mexico  City  and  to  im- 
prisonment for  a  year  and  a  half.  This 
was  the  result  of  the  fact  that  a  letter  he 
had  written  suggesting  to  the  people  of 
Bexar  (the  western  department  of  Texas) 
that  they  aid  in  the  movement  for  a  better 
local  government,  had  come  to  the  knowl- 
edge of  Farias,  the  acting-president. 

When  he  at  last  reached  home,  he  found 
the  revolution  well  under  way.  For  a 
short  time  he  served  as  commander  of  the 
Texan  forces  in  the  field.     In  November, 

1835,  Austin  went  as  a  commissioner  to 
the  United  States,  where,  although  he 
could  not  be  received  at  Washington,  he 
succeeded  in  raising  extensive  loans.     In 

1836,  as  a  candidate  for  the  presidency  of 
the  newly-founded  Republic  of  Texas,  he 
received  less  than  600  out  of  a  total  of 
more  than  6,000  votes.  Sam  Houston, 
who  was  elected,  appointed  Austin  sec- 
retary of  state;  and  in  the  midst  of  his 
labors  in  that  office  Austin  died,  in  De- 
cember, 1836.  Such  reward  as  he  had  en- 
joyed was  expressed  in  the  absolute  con- 
fidence of  the  best  Texans  in  his  judgment 
and  character. 


WRITTEN  FOR   THE  MENTOR  BY  GEORGE  S    BRYAN 

ILLUSTRATION  FOR  THE  MENTOR.  VOL.  8.  No.   1.  SERIAL  No.  197 

rnPVBir.HT.    1920.   BY    THE   MENTOR   ASSOCIATION.    INC. 


■   ■*   J.   C.   WFTTRT.   FROM   A   PMOTDCJMrH   BT   Mk« 


JOHN  CHARLES  FR^MOWT 


PIONEERS  OF  THE  W EST 


John  Charles  Fremont 


FIVE 


OHN  CHARLES  FREMONT  was  born  in  Savannah, 
Georgia,  on  January  21,  1813;  his  mother  a  Virgin- 
ian, his  father  a  Frenchman.     He  attended  for  a 
time  the  college  of  Charleston,  S.  C,  and  in  1833 
became  instructor  in  mathematics  on  board  U.  S.  S.  "Natchez." 


Appointed  to  be  professor  of  mathematics  in  the  navy,  he 

resigned  in  order  to  act  as  assistant-en- 
gineer of  a  surveying  expedition  whose 
main  object  was  to  find  a  pass  through  the 


Appalachians  for  a  projected  railway  be- 
tween Cincinnati  and  Charleston.  In 
1838  he  was  commissioned  second  lieuten- 
ant of  topographical  engineers  in  the 
United  States  army;  and  in  1838-1840 
was  assistant  to  Jean  N.  Nicollet  (1786- 
1843),  in  work  for  the  war  department. 
His  first  independent  task  was  the  survey 
in  1841  of  the  lower  waters  of  the  Des 
Moines  river  for  the  Federal  government. 
In  the  same  year  he  was  married  to  Jessie 
Benton,  talented  daughter  of  Thomas  H. 
Benton  (1782-1858),  originally  a  Tennes- 
sean,  for  thirty  years  a  United  States  sena- 
tor from  Missouri,  and  very  prominently 
identified  as  a  public  man  with  the  west- 
ward movement  beyond  the  Mississippi. 

It  was  Fremont's  exceeding  good  for- 
tune to  have  associated  with  him  on  the 
first  three  expeditions  that  most  capable 
guide,  Kit  Carson.  Carson's  unrivaled 
plainscraft  and  his  comprehension  of  In- 
dian nature  and  Indian  tongues  were  of 
great  help.  The  special  features  of  the 
first  expedition  (1842)  were  the  explora- 
tion of  South  Pass  and  its  vicinity  (in  the 
southwestern  part  of  the  present  Wyo- 
ming); the  survey  of  the  pass;  and  the 
ascent  of  Fremont's  peak  (13,720  feet), 
the  second  loftiest  point  of  the  Wind 
River  range.  After  Fremont's  survey  of 
South  Pass,  the  favored  route  to  the  Pa- 
cific was  by  that  way  over  the  "Oregon 
trail";  and  later  the  Union  Pacific  railway 
followed  the  same  course.  On  the  second 
expedition  (1843-1844)  Fremont  contin- 
ued his  explorations  to  the  Great  Salt 
Lake  and  from  there,  along  the  line  of 
travel,  to  Fort  Vancouver  upon  the  Co- 
lumbia river.  From  The  Dalles  of  the 
Columbia  he  then  went  by  the  valley  of 
the  Deschutes  river,  at  the  eastern  base  of 
the  Cascade  range,  to  the  Klamath  lakes; 
thence  to  Fort  Sutter  (on  the  site  of  the 
present  Sacramento)  at  the  junction  of 
the  American  and  Sacramento  rivers; 
southward  along  the  base  of  the  Sierra 
Nevada;  across  the  mountains;  and  by 
the  eastern  side  of  the  Great  Basin  back 
to  the  Great  Salt  Lake.  Fremont's  report 
of  this  difficult  and  adventurous  trip  gave 
Americans  their  first  real  idea  of  the  coun- 
try west  of  the  Rockies.  Upon  the  third 
expedition  (1845-1846)  Fremont,  now  a 
brevet  captain,  went  by  way  of  the  upper 
head-waters  of  the  Arkansas  to  the  south- 
ern side  of  the  Great  Salt  Lake,  thence  by 
the  Great  Basin  into  California. 

It  was  the  eve  of  the  Mexican  War. 
The  extent  of  American  immigration  into 
California  had  made  Mexican  officials  sus- 


picious; and  they  soon  ordered  Fremont 
out  of  the  province.  Fremont  responded 
by  pitching  a  camp  on  an  eminence  over- 
looking Monterey,  fortifying  the  position, 
and  hoisting  the  American  flag.  Shortly 
afterward,  he  started  for  the  Oregon  coun- 
try. Dispatches  from  Washington  caused 
him  to  retrace  his  steps.  On  June  14, 
1846,  a  band  of  American  settlers  occupied 
Sonoma,  unfurled  a  flag  carrying  the  de- 
vice of  a  bear,  and  proposed  an  indepen- 
dent state.  Around  Fremont's  responsi- 
bility for  this  filibustering  act,  much  dis- 
cussion has  centered.  However,  on  July 
7  Commodore  J.  D.  Sloat  seized  Monterey 
and  proclaimed  California  to  be  United 
States  territory.  He  was  succeeded  in 
command  by  Commodore  R.  F.  Stockton, 
who  commissioned  Fremont  a  major;  and 
in  1846-1847  Stockton  and  Fremont  fin- 
ished the  conquest  of  California  and  organ- 
ized a  government.  Then  Brig.-Gen.  S.  W. 
Keamy  arrived,  under  directions  from 
CongTess  to  subdue  California  and  estab- 
lish a  temporary  civil  government.  Ignor- 
ing Kearny,  Stockton  appointed  Fremont 
commandant  and  governor.  But  Kearny's 
authority  was  in  time  confirmed,  and 
Kearny  sent  Fnfmont  under  arrest  to 
Washington.  There  a  court-martial 
found  Fremont  guilty  of  mutiny,  disobe- 
dience, and  conduct  to  the  prejudice  of 
good  order  and  military  discipline,  and 
sentenced  him  to  be  dismissed  from  the 
service.  The  penalty  was  remitted  by 
President  Polk,  but  Fremont  forthwith 
resigned  the  commission  of  lieutenant- 
colonel  of  infantry  that  had  been  bestowed 
on  him  in  May,  1846. 

Fremont's  fourth  expedition  (1848- 
1849)  was  an  attempt  to  solve  a  problem 
in  which  he  was  deeply  interested — the 
practicability  of  a  railway  line  to  the  Pa- 
cific, especially  under  conditions  of  snow- 
fall. The  undertaking  was  not  at  that 
time  successful.  Several  of  the  party  died ; 
the  others  suffered  much  from  cold  and 
lack  of  food.  On  his  fifth  expedition 
(1853-1854)  Fremont  resumed  this  enter- 
prise and  demonstrated  the  feasibility  of 
a  central  route  for  all-year  use. 

His  subsequent  career  must  be  briefly 
summarized:  In  1850-1851  a  senator 
from  California;  in  1856  the  presidential 
candidate  of  the  Republicans  (in  their 
first  campaign)  and  the  "Know-Nothings," 
but  defeated  by  Buchanan;  in  1861  in 
command  of  the  western  department,  with 
headquarters  at  St.  Louis;  in  1862  de- 
feated by  Ewell  at  Cross  Keys,  Va.  (June 
8);  from  1878  to  1881  governor  of  Ari- 
zona territory;  in  1890  commissioned 
major-general  snd  placed  on  the  retired 
list.   He  died  in  New  York  on  July  13, 1890. 


WRITTEN   l-OR  THE   MENTOR    BV  CEORGE  S    BRVAN 

ILLUSTRATION  FOR   THE   MENTOR.  VOL.  8.  No.   1.  SERIAL  No.   197 

COPYRIGHT.    1920.    BV    THE    MENTOR   ASSOCIATION.    INC. 


•«Avti*  n  m.  wiTTM.  wwm  a  moracBAm  taken  m  tw 


CHRISTOPHER  CARSON 


PIONEERS  OF  THE  WEST 


Christopher  Carson 


six 


F  JIIRISTOPHI'.R  (better  known  as  "Kit")  Carson  is 

(     i       the  representative  pioneer  beyond  the  Mississippi, 
I  pffl  occupying  a  place  soincwhat  analogous  to  that  which 
I^^^™1  Boone   holds   beyond    the   Alleghanies.     Carson,   a 
relative  of  Boone,  was,  like  Boone,  wholly  at  home  in  his  wild 
environment  and  thoroughly  attached  to  it;   a  quiet,  resolute 

skilful    man,    of   whom    Fremont    wrote,       (1843-1844)  Carson  became  a  rancher  on 


"...  With  me,  Carson  and  truth  mean 
the  same  thing." 

Kit  Carson  was  born  in  Madison  County 
in  east-central  Kentucky  on  December  24, 
1809.  His  parents,  Kentucky  pioneer 
folk,  removed  to  north-central  Missouri 
when  he  was  a  year  old,  and  settled  in 
what  now  is  Howard  County.  This  new 
home  was  northwest  of  the  district  to 
which  Boone  had  gone  about  a  decade 
before;  it  was  well  out  on  the  frontier,  so 
that  at  first  the  Carsons  lived  in  a  little 
community  within  the  walls  of  a  log  fort, 
around  which  land  was  tilled  under  pro- 
tection of  an  armed  guard.  Amid  such 
border  conditions,  then,  Kit  'urew  up. 
For  a  couple  of  years  he  was  apprenticed 
to  a  saddler.  In  1826,  when  he  was  seven- 
teen, he  made  his  first  trip  to  Santa  Fe! 
over  the  famous  trail,  survey  of  which  had 
!>een  begun  by  the  Federal  Government 
in  the  previous  year.  After  that,  the 
routine  of  a  saddle-maker's  shop  was  not 
for  him.  He  turned  to  the  independent 
life  of  a  hunter,  trapper,  and  fur-trader, 
occasionally  taking  part  in  expeditions 
against  Indian  marauders.  In  this  manner 
he  gained  a  minute  knowledge  of  a  great 
portion  of  the  far  western  country,  and 
familiaritv  with  Indian  speech  and  traits. 

For  eight  years,  from  1832  to  1840,  he 
was  hunter  for  Bent's  Fort,  a  trading-post 
on  the  Arkansas  river  in  southeastern  Colo- 
rado, conducted  by  Bent  and  St.  Vrain, 
frontier  merchants.  The  game  that  fell  to 
his  rifle  kept  the  post  fully  supplied  with 
meat.  He  did  not  roam  afoot,  as  the 
trans-Appalachian  hunters  had  done,  but 
was  mounted  on  "Apache,"  a '  favorite 
horse.  All  the  while,  his  reputation  as  a 
shot,  especially  in  pursuit  of  the  bison, 
was  extending;  and  his  influence  among 
the  redmen  was  increasing.  In  1842  he 
returned  to  Missouri  for  a  visit;  but  so 
rapid  and  so  numerous  had  immigration 
been  that  he  found  things  there  altered 
almost  beyond  recognition.  It  was  at  this 
time  that  he  was  engaged  by  Lieut.  John 
C.  Fremont  to  act  as  chief  guide  of  Fre- 
mont's first  exploring  expedition.  He  also 
accompanied  Fremont's  second  and  third 
expeditions.  His  experience  and  remark- 
able store  of  information  had  much  to  do 
with  the  success  of  all  these  undertakings 
— a  fact  freely  recognized  by  Fremont  in 
official  reports  and  elsewhere. 

After   the  second   Fremont  expedition 


the  Little  Cimarron  river  in  northeastern 
New  Mexico,  at  a  point  about  forty-five 
miles  east  of  Taos.  His  first  wife,  an 
Indian,  had  died;  and  he  had  married  a 
Mexican,  Senora  Jarimilla.  When  the 
great  rush  to  the  Pacific  coast  set  in,  he 
was  kept  busy  as  a  professional  guide,  con- 
ducting immigrant  and  other  parties  across 
the  plains  and  over  the  Rockies.  He  was 
made  Indian  agent  at  Taos  in  1854. 

When  the  Civil  War  broke  out  the  in- 
habitants of  New  Mexico  were  rather  in- 
different in  their  attitude;  but  a  Confed- 
erate invasion  of  the  Territory  was  the 
signal  for  a  manifestation  of  loyalty  to  the 
Federal  government.  Gen.  Henry  Hop- 
kins Sibley  marched  into  New  Mexico 
with  a  force  of  about  3,800 — men  who,  to 
make  matters  worse,  were  Texans.  An- 
tipathy to  Texans  had  existed  in  New 
Mexico  ever  since  1841,  when  troops  sent 
by  President  Lamar  of  the  Republic  of 
Texas  made  a  blundering  and  futile  at- 
tempt to  enforce  a  claim  to  all  New  Mexico 
east  of  the  Rio  Grande.  Siblev  won  a 
fight  at  Valverdc  (February  21,  1862),  and 
seized  both  Albuquerque  and  Santa  F£; 
but  eventually  he  was  driven  tack  to 
Texas  with  the  loss  of  about  half  of  his 
original  command.  During  the  war  Carson 
was  active  as  the  leader  of  the  irregulars 
who  took  part  in  a  guerrilla  warfare  in  the 
southwestern  country.  He  was  made  a 
brevet  brigadier-gtneral  for  gallantry  at 
Valverde  and  other  distinguished  service. 

Previous  to  the  cession  of  New  Mexico 
by  Mexico  to  the  United  States,  the  Nav- 
ajo Indians  had  come  to  have  a  contempt 
of  white  men  and  white  men's  rule.  They 
attacked  both  the  white  settlers  and  the 
inoffensive  Pueblos,  plundering  and  kill- 
ing pretty  much  as  they  liked.  During 
the  Civil  War,  while  the  efforts  of  the 
troops  were  concentrated  against  Confed- 
erate invaders,  the  Navajos  took  advan- 
tage of  the  situation  and  began  wholesale 
depredations.  Carson  completely  Sub- 
dued them  in  1863,  and  made  most  of 
them  prisoners.  After  their  release  in  1867 
they  settled  down  to  peace  and  prosperity, 
holding  large  flocks  of  sheep  and  weaving 
the  excellent  blankets  and  rugs  known  by 
their  name.  The  war  over,  Carson  again 
took  up  his  duties  as  Indian  agent;  and 
that  office  he  held  until  his  death,  which 
occurred  at  Old  Fort  Lyon  in  southeastern 
Colorado  on  May  23,  1S68. 


WRITTEN  FOR  THE  MENTOR  BY  GEORGE  S.  BRYAN 

ILLUSTRATION    FOR  THE    MENTOR.  VOL.   8.   No.    I,  SERIAL  No.    197 

COPYRIGHT.    1920.    BY    THE    MENTOR    ASSOCIATION.   INC. 


THE       OPEN      LETTER 


Of  all  American  pioneer  figures,  un- 
doubtedly the  quaintest  was  "Davy" 
Crockett.  He  was  what  the  older  English 
writers  called  "an  original,"  by  which 
they  meant  a  person  of  a  certain  decided 
individuality — a  certain  original  tang.  A 
cheerful  companion,  and  a  good  spinner 
of  yarns,  he  was  a  dead  sure  shot  and  a 
reliable  support  for  his  friends  in  time  of 
trouble.  He  was,  moreover,  a  hard  fight- 
ing politician  as  well  as  a  sturdy  pioneer. 

*  *     * 
Daniel   Boone  was  not,  as  commonly 

has  been  supposed,  the  first  white  man  to 
enter  and  explore  Kentucky,  or  to  pilot 
permanent  settlers  there.  But,  by  virtue 
of  his  love  of  the  free  forest  life,  his  many 
romantic  adventures,  and  the  wide  range 
of  his  wanderings — which  have  often  been 
celebrated  in  story — and  his  personal  com- 
bination of  the  best  pioneer  qualities,  he 
holds  a  special  place  of  his  own  in  the 
history  of  the  Middle  West. 

*  *  * 
From  the  foundation  of  Stephen  Aus- 
tin's American  Colony  in  Mexican  Texas 
leads  a  chain  of  events — including  the 
Texas  revolt  of  1836,  the  annexation  of 
Texas  in  1845,  the  Mexican  War  of  1S46- 
1847,  the  Treaty  of  Guadalupe-Hidalgo 
and  the  grant  of  territory  provided  in  it, 
and  the  remarkable  development  of  the 
two  States  of  Texas  and  California.  The 
historical  and  political  significance  of  Aus- 
tin's life  work  is,  therefore,'plain.  Founder 
of  a  republic  greater  in  area  than  France 
and  England  combined,  Austin  was  unique 
among  American  pioneers.  As  a  man  he 
was  a  fine  American  type,  not  only  in  his 
ability  as  an  executive  and  diplomat,  but 
also  in  his  zealous  toil,  his  patience,  his 
perseverance,  his  vision,  and  his  unselfish 
devotion. 


Fremont  did  not,  in  a  strict  sense,  merit 
his  once  popular  title  of  "The  Pathfinder." 
None  of  Fremont's  expeditions  had  the 
romantic  elements  attaching  to  that  of  the 
two  captains,  Lewis  and  Clark,  though 
his  explorations  of  the  trans-Mississippi 
frontier  were  made  at  a  time  when  the 
question  of  territorial  expansion  in  that 
quarter  was,  to  the  general  public,  a  far 
more  vital  one  than  it  had  been  in  1804- 
1806.  In  the  matters  of  distance  covered, 
territory  examined,  and  contributions  to 
geography  and  other  sciences,  he  stands, 
however,  foremost  among  the  exploring 
pioneers  in  the  westward  movement. 
Furthermore,  his  accounts  of  his  journey- 
ings  were  most  uncommon — if  not  unique 
— among  official  reports,  in  the  lively  in- 
terest of  their  narrative  and  their  admir- 
able literary  style. 

*     •     * 

Kit  Carson  is  the  representative  pioneer 
beyond  the  Mississippi,  occupying  a  place 
there  somewhat  like  that  which  Daniel 
Boone  holds  in  the  story  of  the  land 
beyond  the  Alleghanies.  Carson,  who 
was  a  relative  of  Boone,  was,  like  Boone, 
wholly  at  home  in  a  wild  environment  and 
thoroughly  attached  to  it.  He  was  a  quiet, 
skilful,  resolute  man  of  whom  Fremont 
wrote,  "with  me,  Carson  and  Truth  mean 
the  same  thing." 

George  Rogers  Clark  was  pronounced 
by  the  historian,  Reuben  Gold  Thwaites, 
"the  most  famous  of  all  border  leaders." 
In  breadth  of  vision,  native  ability,  and 
heroic  accomplishment,  he  outranked 
other  pioneers.  His  services  must  appear 
even  more  remarkable  when  it  is  consid- 
ered that  they  were  rendered  before  he 
was  thirty.  The  brilliant  achievement  of 
his  early  years  shines  through  the  shad- 
ows that  darkened  his  later  life. 


^   ■■»• 

— -  Eoiroa 


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